HaulerExploration

The Hauler is Zorgon Peterson's bargain-basement freighter, and its exploration party trick is mass — or the lack of it. At 14 tonnes it's the lightest ship in the game, and since jump range scales inversely with mass, even a modest FSD throws it a remarkable ~50 LY engineered. For a hull that costs about as much as a single rebuy on a real explorer, that's extraordinary.

The catch is everything else. Its six tiny optionals barely fit a small scoop, a scanner and an AFMU, with no room for redundancy or an SRV bay worth the name; its shields are minimal and it's slow in normal flight. The Hauler is a stunt and a statement: proof that range is about mass, not money. It's a novelty first explorer, an ultra-cheap expendable scout, or simply a fun demonstration of how far almost nothing can take you.

Four things make the Hauler a novelty explorer:

• The lightest hull in the game. 14 tonnes means even a small FSD delivers ~50 LY — range out of all proportion to its size and price.
• Almost free. At ~30k Cr it costs less than a rebuy on a real explorer — the cheapest path to deep space, period.
• Small-pad access. Lands at any outpost, so resupply on the way out and back is never blocked.
• A pure mass lesson. It proves the core exploration truth — range comes from shedding mass, not spending credits.

A 14-tonne hull flings a Class-2 FSD to ~50 LY engineered for ~30k Cr, but six tiny optionals (3·3·2·1·1·1) leave no room for redundancy, capping it as a novelty scout.

The 62/100 headline is a verdict against the exploration role's priority-ordered factors. Each factor carries a weight (its share of 100); this hull earns part of each based on how it performs against the whole field. The points sum to the rating.

Both tables rate ships for exploration specifically. The role column is the maximum engineered jump range in light-years — the headline number for deep-space travel.

Same class — small-pad explorers

The Hauler matches far costlier ships on raw jump range purely through lightness — but carries almost nothing. For only a little more, the Diamondback Scout or Cobra Mk III give real kit and capacity. The Hauler's niche is the absolute rock-bottom price and the sheer novelty of its range-per-credit.

Other classes — what real money buys

Every other explorer carries more, lasts longer and travels in more comfort — but all cost vastly more than the Hauler. Its entire pitch is that lightness, not money, makes range: a near-free hull that jumps almost as far as ships a hundred times its price.

At ~30k Cr the Hauler is almost free, and even a fully A-rated, lightly engineered explorer fit stays around 3M Cr all-in — the cheapest deep-space ship possible, by a wide margin.

It's a pure novelty-and-value pick. Spend a little more on a Diamondback Scout or DBE for a vastly better explorer; choose the Hauler only for the rock-bottom price, an expendable scout, or the fun of proving how far nothing can go.

A minimalist featherweight explorer fit — the barest essentials on the lightest hull in the game. Initial is buy-only; A-rated is the expedition baseline; Engineered squeezes maximum range from minimal mass.

Buy the hull (~30k Cr) and run it stock: the standard E-rated cores stay in place, the hull's factory Lightweight Alloy bulkheads stay on (they're the lightest armour and cost nothing), and you bolt on a 3E Fuel Scoop and a Heat Sink Launcher — that's the entire buy-only fit. Even on a 2E FSD the range is startling given the low mass.

Leave the rest of the bays empty for now. The second size-3 slot (Guardian FSD Booster), the size-2 SRV bay, and all three size-1 slots — AFMU, Detailed Surface Scanner and the landing shield — stay unfitted until the A-rating pass.

Strip everything non-essential; the Hauler's whole virtue is its lightness.

A-rating priority for a featherweight explorer:

• 1FSD → 2A — On so light a hull, the A-rated FSD yields huge range; do it first. ~150k Cr
• 2Cores → D-rate — Drop Power Plant and Thrusters to 2D and Life Support, Sensors and Power Distributor to 1D; D-rated modules are lighter, and on the Hauler mass beats power. cheap
• 3Fuel Scoop → 3A — Refuel between the short jump chains its small tank allows. ~600k Cr
• 4Guardian FSD Booster (size 3) — A flat range bonus — a Guardian-site run. material cost
• 5Detailed Surface Scanner — Cartographic payouts. ~250k Cr
• 6AFMU (1E) — One self-repair unit for the trip. ~100k Cr
• 7Planetary Vehicle Hangar (size 2) — The lighter 2G SRV bay for surface prospecting and exobiology. ~100k Cr
• 8Bi-Weave Shield (1C) — A featherweight landing shield for safe touchdowns. cheap

Leave the bulkheads as Lightweight Alloy — there's nothing to shoot you out here, so don't trade range for armour mass. Engineering comes later.

The exploration engineering pattern on the lightest hull in the game. Felicity Farseer carries the all-important Increased Range FSD; the thrusters go to Professor Palin or Mel Brandon, the plant to Hera Tani, and the lightweight cores spread across Etienne Dorn, Bill Turner and The Dweller. Pin blueprints for remote G1→G5 application.

Recommended order

• 1FSD Increased Range to G5 with Mass Manager — on 14 tonnes, the range is remarkable.
• 2Lightweight every core to shed even the little mass it has.
• 3Low-Emissions plant for cool scooping.
• 4Clean Drive Tuning thrusters — though the Hauler is slow regardless.

Approximate progression across the three states (figures are representative, not exact rolls):

The bulkheads stay Lightweight Alloy throughout, and the G5 Lightweight roll at Selene Jean shaves their already-minimal mass to nothing — protection is irrelevant out in the black, every kilo is range. Engineered, a 30k-credit Hauler jumps ~50 LY — range that costs a hundred times more in other ships. It carries almost nothing and can't sustain a long trip, but as a demonstration that lightness, not money, makes range, it's unbeatable.

• Keep it light — the Hauler's only virtue is mass; don't load it down.
• Plan short jump chains and frequent scooping; its tiny tank limits range between refuels.
• Carry one AFMU and accept there's no redundancy — this is a stunt hull, not a long-haul ship.
• For a real cheap explorer, spend a little more on a Diamondback Scout or DBE.